Celebrities Buy Them—Should You?

Find out the benefits of carbon offsets.

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• Going Green
• Get Motivated
• Environment

Carbon offsets—the guilt reducers that fund green projects worldwide—are the cause du jour. But buying one doesn’t mean it’s okay to ditch everyday eco-friendly habits. What offsets actually do:

Energy-efficiency efforts - Environmental groups install fluorescent lightbulbs, stoves and other energy-saving products in developing countries and low-income U.S. neighborhoods. Best type of offset—the needy receive basic necessities while carbon emissions are limited.

Renewable energy credits (RECs) - fund cleaner and cheaper energy sources, like wind power, and farms that convert methane from manure to electricity. They’re a good offset, but see “Don’t Be Scammed,” below.

Tree-planting, reforestation - These replace red oaks in Arkansas’s Ozark National Forest, where insects have ravaged trees, and mangrove forests in India that were flattened by the tsunami. Though trees hold carbon only temporarily, they also help the earth by reducing erosion and runoff.

Don't Be Scammed

Make sure the project has a Gold Standard rating (cdmgoldstandard.org) or is Green-e certified (green-e.org).

Only buy into projects labeled “additional,” or you might be paying for efforts that will happen anyway. Offsets less than $5 per ton are probably not additional.

Another option: Buy through your utility (for information, visit eere.energy.gov).

Offsets You Can Trust
These get a stamp of approval from top enviro-watchers:

my-climate.com
nativeenergy.com
climatecare.org
atmosfair.de
climatefriendly.com

From Reader's Digest - November 2007

 

• Al Gore:Offsetting a Carbon Footprint
• It's easy to feel powerless when it comes to global warming. But here are some of the best ways we can all make a difference.
• 
• Owen Wlison on Carbon-Footprint Reduction
• This versatile star touts carbon footprint reductions in every day life.
• 
• Global Warming Watch
• What you need to know about the ultimate environmental problem.
• 
• Good News About the Earth
• The planet is greener and cleaner than you think.
• 
• How to Fix America's Energy Crisis
• How french fries and nukes will bring power to the people.
• 

Dinosaurs are fascinating. My three-year-old is obsessed with them.

Recently we were riding on a bus, and he asked another passenger for her name.

"My name is Deena," she said. "Can you say Deena?"

"Deena," said my son. "Can you say pachycephalosaurus?"

 

-- Rob Sanchez

“ One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes. ”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

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